Sheriff's Office Takes Proactive Steps to Address Creepy Clowns in Lake County

LAKE COUNTY, IL - The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is taking proactive measures to deal with anyone acting disorderly while wearing costumes or dressed as clowns as they take aim at a strange trend that was swept the nation in recent days.

This new trend has caused an increase in reports across the nation of offenders wearing creepy clown costumes while harassing or threatening members of the community. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office will aggressively investigate anyone who dresses in a costume, wears a mask, disguises themselves, while making threats or acting disorderly toward others, according to a statement released by the sheriff’s office Wednesday.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office School Safety Team has been communicating with all of the schools in its jurisdiction, providing safety reminders for students and staff. Sheriff’s deputies are conducting extra patrols at all schools.

“The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is being proactive in this matter, especially considering Halloween is right around the corner,” said undersheriff Ray Rose. “We strongly discourage anyone from acting in a manner which alarms or disturbs others, whether in a costume or not.”

With Halloween approaching, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office is also reminding the community to be safe. The sheriff’s office will have extra deputies patrolling while children are trick-or-treating. Sheriff’s detectives will provide additional monitoring of registered child sexual offenders, to ensure they are in compliance with the law, and not participating in trick-or-treating.

“If you see something, say something – I can’t emphasize this enough,” Sheriff Mark Curran said, “It’s imperative the community calls the sheriff’s office or their local police department if they feel anything is suspicious or out of the ordinary.”

Some additional safety tips are:

• If you see someone acting suspiciously, whether they are wearing a costume or not, call the police
• Remind your children not to speak with strangers
• While trick-or-treating, ensure children are accompanied by adults
• Young adults trick-or-treating without parental supervision should always remain in groups
• Ensure children are wearing reflective clothing while trick-or-treating
• An adult should inspect all candy before it’s consumed
• Take extra time and drive safely while trick-or-treaters are out